Is a DVD multi-region hack legal ?? - Page 2

03-13-07, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by Howard2k

I believe all DVD players sold in Australia are now region free aren't they? Do we have an ocker around that can confirm that?

I don't think that's the case. It's a couple of years since I've been back there but I keep up with what's happening and still have family there. Australian DVDs were and still are region 4. Multi-region players are available as they are here but invariably they are obscure brands that have been hacked.
I really can't see where I would be doing something wrong by hacking one.

03-13-07, 03:09 PM

It's illegal but most players have simple keypress type hacks to make them multiregion. This is because the manufactures use the same players in all the regions, just select the region in the firmware.

Most people do it though and as said, its not like the DVD player phones home, so it really should not be an issue.

I unlocked the regions on my player so I can play DVD's from Britain (British comedies that never come over the the US Region).

It is like that so that films can have delayed releases and so that companies can select which areas get movies (due to laws on some forms of content).

athlonduke · 03-13-07, 03:24 PM

its your equipment. if you break it, oh well :D

there's multi region players out there, so i really dont see a problem with it. you bought the disks from another region, you should be able to play them.

if you were taking dvd's and ripping/reburning and stripping region information i could see that being illegal. while you can copy a dvd, the illegal part about copying dvd's is the decrypting part. if you had a dvd and just copied it you are actually legal (home backup purposes only). problem is most dvd's are more than 4.7 (or 9.8) gb, so you have to re-encode them to fit on a standard disk (the illegal part)

psionandy · 03-13-07, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by Grentz

It's illegal but most players have simple keypress type hacks to make them multiregion.

Surely it's only illegal if you break the manufacturers region protection.. If the manufactures let you unlock it then you haven't broken any laws at all

spunker88 · 03-13-07, 04:44 PM

As with almost everything on the internet/tech thats illegal, is not enforced, so it isnt taken seriously.

03-13-07, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by psionandy

Surely it's only illegal if you break the manufacturers region protection.. If the manufactures let you unlock it then you haven't broken any laws at all

Seems like that BUT many manufactures have been sued over having these keypresses to unlock the regions. It is not supposed to be that easy, but they get cheap and lazy and thus leave the code in there to do easy swaps.

Technically it is illegal for them to have the ability to change regions at all in there under license of the DVD Standard. Then again, just a few months ago about 90% of the DVD Player manufactures got shut down in china for license infringement. (Never saw it on the news, but my father works with these manufactures all the time and saw it first hand).

It is legalities of licenses and what the actual manufactures do that determine what we the consumers get. Just like Music, DVD Players are a gray area right now for the consumer, although under license, DVD Player manufactures are not supposed to make it easy to swap regions.

Originally Posted by spunker88

As with almost everything on the internet/tech thats illegal, is not enforced, so it isnt taken seriously.

It is enforced just not at a consumer level, at a Manufactures level.

03-14-07, 05:00 AM

Like many people I own a multi-region DVD player that was supplied in that format by the manufacturer and in the UK these are readily available. There was a time when the movie industry tried to force region 2 only on the UK but from what I can gather they soon realised that they were losing a major revenue stream by not opening up the market and supplying unlocked players to consumers (consumers happily paying to unlock the device anyway etc)

I see no issue with owning the device and buying DVD's from anywhere to play on it - it is certaintly not illegal here to do this the only time you experience a hitch is with customs duty when importing something over £18.00.

As for the original question of unlocking a PC DVD player; I looked into this and discovered it to be a less than simple process and the easiest answer was to buy a specific software player that would provide this facility.

03-15-07, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by Alastair

As for the original question of unlocking a PC DVD player; I looked into this and discovered it to be a less than simple process and the easiest answer was to buy a specific software player that would provide this facility.

Or have dual drives and lock one to region 1 and one to region 2 (or whatever 2 regions you need if you only need 2 regions :p )

That is what I did and it works great. The region lock is not in your PC software at all and actually on the drive itself (you can change it for X number of times (its like 5 I believe) and then it gets locked).

Arpan · 03-15-07, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Grentz

Or have dual drives and lock one to region 1 and one to region 2 (or whatever 2 regions you need if you only need 2 regions :p )

That is what I did and it works great. The region lock is not in your PC software at all and actually on the drive itself (you can change it for X number of times (its like 5 I believe) and then it gets locked).

Or still better go to rpc1.org and if your drive qualifies for the 'LtnRPC' application,..... you could make your drive region free.

Regarding legalities: Yes, it is illegal to copy DVDs however, there is no harm to make your drive region free to watch a legally purchased DVD in a non-commercial exhibition/viewing scenario.:approve:

03-15-07, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by Grentz

Or have dual drives and lock one to region 1 and one to region 2 (or whatever 2 regions you need if you only need 2 regions :p )

That is what I did and it works great. The region lock is not in your PC software at all and actually on the drive itself (you can change it for X number of times (its like 5 I believe) and then it gets locked).

You're right, you get 5 changes and then it's locked.
I purchased the "lite" version of a program which lets me play DVDs from any region and it has been fine. I think the "full" version also lets you copy but I have no requirement for that and can see where it would be a bit "dodgy".
Multi-region hacks for domestic players can be Googled and appear quite legitimate and to my way of thinking do not disadvantage anyone or infringe any copyrights.

03-15-07, 05:10 PM

DVD Players in my house:

Oppo Player --> Key Press Unlocked to be Region Free
Xbox --> Hacked to be Region Free
PC --> Dual Drives, one Region 1, one Region 2 (the only regions I watch)

Only player not region free is my Xbox 360, but I never play DVDs on it anyways :p

star882 · 03-15-07, 08:23 PM

Region free hacking is legal if you're doing it for your own use. Copying DVDs is legal as long as you're not distributing them in any way.

Of course, with the low price of DVD players and drives, the region DRM is mostly useless even without hacks.

03-15-07, 11:43 PM

Originally Posted by star882

Copying DVDs is legal as long as you're not distributing them in any way.

As long as you own a copy and are making backups is the preffered version of saying that

w3iner · 03-17-07, 02:56 PM

THis kinda stuff makes me amd. Music and Video companies don't want us to pirate, but then they play this same game.

03-17-07, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by w3iner

THis kinda stuff makes me amd. Music and Video companies don't want us to pirate, but then they play this same game.

How are they pirating or doing anything against what they say?

Multiregion DVD players are not from the Video or Music companies that are setting the standards and rules and enforcing said rules.